With the increased mobility of people in today's workforce, the demand for mobile computing and communication capabilities outside of the office has increased dramatically. Those inside the office, as well as those who typically work outside the office, often require the ability to communicate with others and other devices to access or transfer various data files. In response to this demand, handheld computing devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs) have been developed.
A PDA is a compact device that can serve various functions including a cellular phone, facsimile transmitter, personal organizer, and the like. PDAs typically include a stylus and/or a touch screen for user input, and may include a keyboard or a limited number of input keys. PDAs can be used for such things as sending and retrieving e-mail, Web browsing, and data-sharing applications over the Internet, intranet or corporate networks.
Because of the compact nature of PDAs, the ability to enter data is somewhat limited. Touch screens and miniature keypads typically provide a single character hunt-and-click entry technique that is slow and not conducive to entering large amounts of data. PDAs have not replaced more traditional portable computers when it comes to such tasks as data entry, word processing, spreadsheet analysis, and so on. As a result, today's computer users often opt to carry both devices, a PDA to hold such things as appointments, tasks, and contact information, as well as a portable computer to accommodate more data intensive operations, such as word processing, spreadsheet functionality, and so on.
Dual device users typically enter events into either the PDA or the portable computer and then synchronize the two devices so that both contain the same information. Today, a PDA is most commonly interfaced with a portable computer by connecting an external cradle or cable to the computer and then plugging the PDA into the cradle or cable. Another technique is to utilize a wireless connection (e.g., IR, RF, etc.) to interface the two computing devices.
This invention offers another technique for interfacing a PDA with a portable computer.